Lynne Baab

Praying about the flow of time: Preparing for a creative Lent

Lynne Baab • Tuesday February 25 2025

Lent begins next week on March 5. This year for Lent, I’m going to do something I haven’t done for about ten years. I normally wear gold earrings and colorful necklaces. For Lent, I’m going to wear only silver earrings, plus my silver cross necklace that I hardly ever wear. When I’ve done this in the past — maybe for six or eight Lents between 1990 and 2010 — the dullness of the silver (compared with gold) and the absence of color speaks to me of the sorrow of walking with Jesus to the cross. And of course the cross speaks to me if I’m willing to listen. The dull silver and the cross call me to prayers of gratitude for Jesus’s sacrifice.

Throughout history, Christians have marked Lent in a variety of ways, often by fasting from something, adding a way of drawing near to God or both. In this post, I explore those three options.

By wearing a cross necklace during Lent, I am adding something. That’s a common strategy during Lent. If you’re a person who doesn’t usually use a daily devotional, you might pick up Lenten devotional for the 40 days of Lent—adding a daily practice for six weeks. Another common Lenten strategy is replacing something in your daily life with something that speaks to you of God. I’m doing that with my earrings. I always wear earrings, but this year in Lent they will be silver, not gold. If you use a devotional all the time, and you choose to use a Lenten devotional, that’s replacing something you normally do with something specifically focused on Lent.

Ideas for creativity this year in Lent:

Adding something. From the many people I’ve spoken with about their spiritual practices, it appears to me that the most common thing to add during Lent is some aspect of the devotional life. You might use a Lenten devotional like the one I wrote and my husband, Dave, illustrated. You might decide to use a prayer app like Lectio 365 or Pray As You Go. You might put your Bible on the table where you eat breakfast so you can read a passage every morning. You might read a Psalm at bedtime.

Any spiritual practice that’s not habitual for you could play a role in your Lenten observance this year — a daily prayer walk, a weekly prayer time with a spouse or friend, the prayer of examen at bedtime most nights, or setting your phone to ping at 9 am, noon, and 3 pm to remind you to pray a brief prayer. Be creative! Think outside the box as I did with my (sort of strange) Lenten jewelry practice.

Subtracting something, which is often called fasting. Throughout Christian history, fasting has been commonly recommended in Lent. In my childhood, I had friends who were Catholic, and they often gave up candy for Lent. In my Episcopal churches, fasting wasn’t encouraged for Lent. I did know when Lent started each year because we went to church on Ash Wednesday and got ashes on our foreheads. I often joined my friends who fasted from candy during Lent. I didn’t like candy very much, so this felt virtuous without feeling sacrificial.

During Lent, some people fast from meat, sugar, alcohol, coffee drinks, or other favorite foods or drinks. Some people fast from movies, restaurants, news, shopping, or various forms of media. I’ll never forget the time, at least 15 years ago, when I spoke about fasting, and two young women came up after my talk to me to tell me they like to fast from social media during Lent. Back then, I’d never heard of that idea. How helpful that might be in 2025.

The purpose of giving something up varies slightly from one person to another. Some might give up a daily treat for the purpose of saving money to give away. Another person might give up some component of daily life to see how its absence feels. A woman I interviewed said that fasting is like tying a ribbon around her finger to remember God. Every time we reach for that cookie or think about clicking on the social media app that we have given up for Lent, we can pause and remember God’s generosity to us in Jesus.

Many people give up something to make space for something else. That’s the third Lenten pattern.

Subtracting and adding. One woman I interviewed stopped reading the newspaper with her breakfast during Lent and read her Bible instead. I interviewed several people who give up one meal a week during Lent and spend that time praying. (Anyone who has ever suffered from an eating disorder should not fast from food. How great that there are so many other good options for fasting.) 

Subtract a social media app and add a brief prayer time each day for three friends.

Subtract a coffee drink on the way to work and add a prayer for the poor in our country and around the world who can’t afford lattes. At the end of Lent, send the money that you saved to a ministry with the poor.

Subtract TV or a movie one night a week and add a prayer time with a spouse, apartment mate, or friend using zoom.

Subtract shopping and add a prayer walk, drawing a favorite scripture, playing a hymn or praise song on a musical instrument, or listening to music that draws you near to God.

Subtract one kind of jewelry, clothes, makeup, food, drink, or hobby and add a different one that might make you think and pray differently.

I hope you’ll think creatively about Lent this year. I hope you’ll find some way to set these weeks apart and journey to the cross with Jesus.

God of wide open spaces, help us create space in our lives this year to walk with Jesus to the cross. God who gave us eyes and ears, help us take the time to look for your hand in our lives and listen for your voice. God who created numbers and mathematics, help us add and subtract aspects of our daily lives so that we can draw near to you.

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More on fasting — I wrote a book on fasting, published by InterVarsity Press, that is available for kindle as well as paperback. I interviewed dozens of Christians and learned about a surprising number of ways they fast. I have written four articles on fasting, plus one article on the Sabbath and fasting. I’ve also written almost a dozen blog posts about various aspects of fasting.

Next week: Ash Wednesday. Illustration by Dave Baab: Lake Te Anau, New Zealand.

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Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christians spiritual practices. Read more »

Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her two 2024 books, both of them illustrated with her talented husband Dave's watercolors. She is thrilled at how good the watercolors look in the printed books, and in the kindle versions, if read on a phone, the watercolors glow. Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide guides the reader into new ways to pray about the topics in the title. Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional guides the reader to a psalm for each day of Lent and offers insightful reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in groups. 

Another recent book is Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian  Life, available in paperback, audiobook, and for kindle. Lynne's 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her most popular book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (now available as an audiobook as well as paperback and kindle). You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: empathy, bringing spiritual practices to life. Sabbath keeping for recent grads., and Sabbath keeping for families and children.

Lynne was interviewed for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills. 

Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.

"Lynne's writing is beautiful. Her tone has such a note of hope and excitement about growth. It is gentle and affirming."
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"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
— a reader of Sabbath Keeping